W&L Law Welcomes New Faculty Members W&L Law is pleased to announce the following full-time faculty who joined the law school on July 1.

By Law Communications
July 2, 2025

W&L Law is pleased to announce the following full-time faculty who joined the law school on July 1.

Carrie Stanton, who was a visiting assistant professor at the law school last year, joins the permanent faculty as an assistant professor. Stanton is a business law scholar who teaches and writes in the areas of contracts, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance. Her scholarship has been published, or is forthcoming, in leading scholarly journals, including the Wisconsin Law Review and the Journal of Corporation Law. Prior to joining the W&L Law faculty, Professor Stanton was a partner at Williams Mullen. In her practice, she represented clients in major business transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, complex commercial contract negotiations, and corporate governance matters. While in private practice, Stanton also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, teaching courses on commercial transactions and business law. Stanton received her B.A. and J.D. from the University of Virginia.

Lauren Hughes joins W&L Law as an assistant clinical professor and director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic. Previously, she was a clinical teaching fellow at the Center for Applied Legal Studies at Georgetown University Law Center. Hughes researches in the areas of immigration law, asylum and refugee law, and international human rights law. Hughes previously served as an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow at the community-based non-profit Building One Community in Stamford, Connecticut, representing clients from a range of countries on their removal cases, asylum applications, and other humanitarian claims. She began her legal career as a law clerk to Judge Gary S. Katzmann at the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York, including sittings by designation with the First, Second, and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals. Hughes received her undergraduate degree from DePaul University and her J.D. from Duke Law School. She also holds LL.M. degrees from Duke and Georgetown.

Dennis C. Sweet, IV, joins the law school as an assistant clinical professor and director of the Civil Rights and Racial Justice Clinic. He brings over 16 years of experience in civil rights and criminal defense litigation, with a practice grounded in advocacy for underserved communities and systemic reform. He has successfully litigated cases in state and federal courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Sweet’s work has resulted in jury verdicts and settlements on behalf of victims of police misconduct and wrongful death. In Harrion v. City of Jackson, a jury found the city liable for the wrongful death of Ruth Helen Harrion, leading to policy changes in how the city responds to prowler calls. In Lewis v. City of Jackson, he authored the appellate brief resulting in a Mississippi Supreme Court ruling that clarified standards for police accountability. Sweet earned a B.A. from Tougaloo College, a J.D. from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law, and an LL.M. in Litigation and Dispute Resolution from George Washington University Law School.

Melinda Roth joins W&L as an associate visiting professor. She teaches in the areas of business associations and corporate finance and was most recently a visiting associate professor at George Washington University Law School. Prior to entering academia, Roth enjoyed an over twenty-year, storied career at the World Bank. She focused in the areas of private and financial sector development and risk management. Her work encompassed representing the World Bank on the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), as well as managing employees and critical projects within the Bank. Roth has experience working in both developing and developed countries around the globe. In addition to her work at the World Bank, Roth also has direct Wall Street experience from two leading investment banks. She received her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

If you know any W&L who would be great profile subjects, tell us about them! Nominate them for a web profile.